Residents in Bethulie, south of Bloemfontein, are experiencing prolonged power outages that disrupt daily life and emergency services. A local diabetic resident highlights the health risks posed by the lack of electricity for storing medication. The Kopanong municipality attributes the issue to outdated infrastructure dating back to 1945.
Despite national efforts to stabilize electricity supply, several communities in the Free State province remain affected by frequent power cuts. In Bethulie, located south of Bloemfontein, locals report going without power for days at a time. These outages extend beyond households, affecting mobile networks and hindering access to police and other emergency contacts.
One resident, 78-year-old diabetic Matshidiso Barnard, described the personal dangers involved. She depends on refrigeration to preserve her medication, but the interruptions force her to seek alternatives. "It’s because of the electricity that goes out for a long time," Barnard said. "My medication must be in a cold place – I’ve now been asked to store my medication in the clinic. So that is where I can inject myself, because here at home, I cannot store it because of the lack of electricity. Sometimes I can’t reach the clinic due to lack of transport. I must call an ambulance to pick me up. Or they come with my medication to inject me. It is because of the electricity that goes out often."
The Kopanong municipality has identified multiple underlying issues contributing to the instability. Mayor Xolani Tseletsele noted that infrastructure problems include aging transformers and underground lines requiring replacement. "We have picked a number of problems which are leading to on and off leading unstable electricity to our communities," he explained. "So the approach is that as of Monday, we are going on a programme where we go to communities to report back on the level of work done in the renewal of the electricity infrastructure. Throughout the municipality, the infrastructure is as old as 1945, so you find out in other areas they’ve got transformers that need to be changed. They have got underground electricity lines that need to be changed and all of those problems as and when the time goes on are issues that we are going to resolve."
The municipality plans community updates starting the following Monday to detail progress on infrastructure renewals.
